When I saw the Timberwolves schedule my first thought was “welcome to the NBA Ricky Rubio, we’d like you to meet Russell Westbrook.” Tough way to debut.

But Rubio was not fazed in the least, he looked good in his first NBA game. Very good.

The numbers are modest — six points, six assists, five rebounds and no turnovers in 26 minutes — but that was more about the Timberwolves keeping the reins on him early. When he was in he was controlling the game for the Timberwolves in a mature way.

Rubio just has an amazing court sense that few point guards ever have. We knew he could pass, but he uses his feel for the game to control the pace, space the floor properly and create shots for others. Check out his first assist to see what I’m talking about.

And for one night at least he did all the things critics said he couldn’t. He was 2-of-2 on midrange jumpers (but missed his one attempt from three). He didn’t play recklessly and turn the over. Some people thought he couldn’t defend, although if you watched him internationally that didn’t seem a big issue.

His passing is some Third Kind, Richard Dreyfuss in a pick-up truck type of stuff. It’s not that they’re flashy. It’s that they’re flashy with a purpose. Some people throw a behind the back pass because it makes them look good. Rubio’s threads were to make the team look good….

Rubio turned Westbrook into an iso player, and it briefly took the Thunder out of their sets. With 3:30 left in the game and the Thunder up one, Westbrook drove the right side of the lane against Rubio. Despite being presumed to be too slow to stay with guys like Westbrook, Wall, and Rose, Ricky slid his feet, stayed in front of Russ and sold a charge to the ref for the turnover.

Certainly Westbrook played like an All-Star. He lost Rubio on some back door cuts and on one play in transition just physically overpowered the Spaniard. Oklahoma City won the game because they are the better team.

But Rubio is going to be good in the NBA. Likely very good. And that may come along sooner rather than later. Combine that with Kevin Love and Derrick Williams and you can see a real future for Minnesota. For now, they are going to be fun to watch.

In fact, in Saturday’s dunk contest, he didn’t look like a dunker at all.

The Pacers star missed all three attempts of his first dunk, and a Black Panther mask was by far the biggest draw of his second. Oladipo was eliminated after the first round.

Maybe Dennis Smith Jr. wasn’t the only eliminated dunker who left something in his bag. This Oladipo dunk – 180 degrees, throwing ball off the backboard with his left hand while in mid-air, dunking with his right hand – while preparing in Los Angeles was awesome.

A statement released Wednesday by the NFL and NBA clubs says their 90-year-old owner is resting comfortably at Ochsner Medical Center, a hospital which also serves as a major sponsor and which owns naming rights to the teams’ training headquarters.

Benson has owned the New Orleans Saints since 1985 and bought the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012.

In recent years, Benson has overhauled his estate plan so that his third wife, Gayle, would be first in line to inherit control of the two major professional franchises.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he’d be surprised if Kawhi Leonard played again this season, a stark reversal from just a month ago. Back then, even while announcing Leonard was out indefinitely with a quad injury, the San Antonio coach said Leonard wouldn’t miss the rest of the season.

After spending 10 days before the All-Star break in New York consulting with a specialist to gather a second opinion on his right quad injury, All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard bears the burden of determining when he’s prepared to play again, sources told ESPN.

Leonard has been medically cleared to return from the right quad tendinopathy injury, but since shutting down a nine-game return to the Spurs that ended Jan. 13, he has elected against returning to the active roster, sources said.

The uncertainty surrounding this season — and Leonard’s future which could include free agency in the summer of 2019 — has inspired a palpable stress around the organization, league sources said.

At first glance, this sounds like Derrick Rose five years ago. Even after he was cleared to play following a torn ACL, the then-Bulls star remained mysterious about when he’d suit up. His confidence in his physical abilities seemed to be a major issue, and he was never the same player since (suffering more leg injuries).

But the Spurs famously favor resting players to preserve long-term health. They seem unlikely to rush back Leonard. They might even sit players who want to play more often. And Leonard isn’t Rose.

Still, it’s clear something is amiss in San Antonio. Maybe not amiss enough to end Leonard’s tenure there, but the longer this lingers, the more time for tension to percolate.